Duos are the new "black." Bert & Ernie, Batman & Robin, Ben & Jerry, salt & pepper, peanut butter & jelly....I think you get the idea. All good things come in Duos. If you're a furniture dealer in the Coachella Valley specializing in love-seats, business is going to be good for you this April because Coachella promoters are going to need "everything you got" to accommodate all the "Duos" in the backstage area that are performing at this year's festival.

Artist Spotlights:
The Raveonettes:

On their fourth album, In and Out of Control, the Copenhagen Denmark "Duo" do 60's girl group pop filtered through equal parts Beach Boys and The Jesus and Mary Chain...and they do it pretty damn well. I've never spent a summer in Northern Europe, but I imagine this album would be the perfect soundtrack.
"Bang" from the album In and Out of Control (2009):

Long before Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWynGarden dominated the closing years of the 00's (it's been ten years and I still have no clue yet what the hell that decade is called!?!) as the biggest rock stars that you still couldn't pick out of a lineup for a million dollars, they were just fresh-faced college kids playing campus gigs where they attended at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT (from 2002-2005). They perform with a full 5 piece band, but Goldwasser and VanWynGarden have always been the "Duo" steering the ship since 2002. Here's a video from their college days in Connecticut....a quirky jam session with an AM radio in typical MGMT style.

"Funky Legal Beats" (circa 2003):

She & Him:

"She" is actress Zooey Deschanel. "Him" is singer-songwriter M. Ward, who's put out a handful of acclaimed albums throughout the past decade. "She" writes all of the songs (except a few covers). "Him" arranges and produces the music. "She" is ridiculously cute. "Him" is...well...I'll let someone else call that one.

"Why Do You Let Me Stay Here" from the album Volume 1 (2008):

The Big Pink: The UK duo released their debut album in Sept. 2009 on influential indie label 4AD. They are in the midst of their second tour of the US, leading up to Coachella, and blowing up every blog along the way. They perform with a 4 piece live band, alternating between distortion shrouded waves of shoegaze-y guitars, reverb-drenched crooning, and mechanized beats. I've seen them twice at the El Rey here in Los Angeles in the past six months. With each pass through LA, the crowd was a little bigger, the band a little better, and I continue to see their albums flying off the shelves at Amoeba. It seems like every other entry in the newly released installment of Amoeba's "Music We Like" books, features a nod to The Big Pink.

On a side note: If you're reading this and you are the really cute "merch" girl in the white hat that I was talking to at the El Rey show...and you need someone to show you around Los Angeles next time the band is in town...I'll be in the "Rock" section at Amoeba every Saturday...find me.

"Velvet" from the album A Brief History of Love (2009):

(To see all posts in The 12 Days of Coachella 2010 series, click here. For Amoeba's full Coachella coverage, click here. And thank you to those that commented on previous posts. Please feel free to comment on what you like, don't like, and leave a suggested donation of $10.)